Device for piling and counting blanks of paper or the like



Feb. 5, 1935. I K. FILLMANN I 1,990,319

DEVICE FOR FILING AND COUNTING BLANKS OF PAPER OR THE LIKE Fi1ed'Apri1 21, 1934 6 Sheets-Sheet l FIG. 1

Feb. 5, 1935. K. FILLMANN DEVICE FOR FILING AND COUNTING BLANKS OF PAPER OR THE LIKE Filed A ril 21, 1934 s Sheets-Sheefi 2 FIG. 2

Feb. 5,1935. K, FZLLMANN 1,999,319

DEVICE FOR FILING AND COUNTING BLANKS OF PAPER OR THE LIKE Filed April 21, 19:4 s Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG. 2%

K4 m. F/LLMI/Y/Y rnvE/vran Feb. 5, 1935. K. FILLMANN 1,999,319

DEVICE FOR FILING AND COUNTING BLANKS OF PAPER OR THE LIKE Filed April 21, 1934 e Sheets-Sheet 4 Feb. 5, 1935.

K. FILLMANN DEVICE FOR FILING AND COUNTING BLANKS OF PAPER OR THE LIKE Filed April 21, 1934- 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Feb. 5, 1935. K. FILLMANN' 1,990,319

DEVICE FOR PILINGJAND COUNTING BLANKS OF PAPER OR THE LIKE Filed April 21,.1954 e Sheets-Sheet, e

i l J Patented Feb. 5, 1935.

UNITED STATES DEVICE FOR PILING AND COUNTING BLANKS OF PAPER OR THE LIKE Karl Fillmann, Cannstatt, Germany, assignorto the firm Fr. Hesser, Maschinenfabrik-Aktien geaelischaft, Cannstatt, Germany Application' April 21, 1934, Serial N0. 721,736

In Germany April 19, 1933 'lGlaims.

The present invention relates to improvements in devices for piling and counting blanks of paper, cardboard or other material, provided with a plurality of superposed pile containers which are,

for the purpose of receiving the blanks, successively advanced by the thickness of one blank.

A purpose of the present invention is to obtain a continuous piling of the blanks during the whole time of movement of all pile containers. According to the invention, this is achieved as follows:

After a container has received a definite or predetermined number of blanks, the feeding movement of the containers is, in contrast to their normal speed (corresponding to their advance by the thickness of one blank), so accelerated that for the next blank the subsequent empty container has already arrived and positioned with its hottom surface in the feeding plane of the blank. By this provision of an accelerated container feed, a continuous piling of the single blanks can be effected in containers becoming successively operative so that the piling operation as a whole of .the blanks is accomplished very quickly.

In the accompanying drawings, an embodiment of a device according to the invention is shown, by way of example, in connection with a plane punching machine. The invention is, however, not restricted to the use with plane punching machines but may be used in connection with any machine working on or feeding paper, cardboard or the like blanks, such as, for instance, longitudinal and cross cutting machines.

In said drawings- Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly the device.

Fig. 2 is an end view, partly in section, of the device, as seen from the left in Fig. 1.

' Fig. 2a. is a plan view of the device shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 shows a part of the feed mechanism of the piling device, on a larger scale.

Fig. 4 is, on a larger scale, a cross-section through the driving gear of the piling device. Figs. 5, 6 and 7, respectively, show a preferred design of a pile container, on a larger scale, and in end, side and plan views, respectively.

Fig. 8 is, on a large scale; a side elevation of an end portion of a pile container, viewed from line 8-8 of Fig. 7.

ThepunchinB machine 1 is, in the present case, shown as a planeqr flat punching machine of the usual type and working in the well-known way. This type of machines is entirelyfamiliar to those skilled in the art, and does not require a in section, of

detailed description. It will be sufflcient, therefore, to state that it comprises a stationary lower bed-plate 1 for the die 1 and a top plate 1 which is reciprocated with reference to the die 1, by means of a suitable and well-known gear bythe main driving shaft 55. The top plate 1 in a well-known manner carries the punch 1 which in the lower position of the said plate enters a suitable recess 1 of the die 1 so as to cut outthe blanks from the strip or web W which. is fed to the punching machine by any suitable feeding gear. In the present instance, this gear comprises two successive pairs of cooperating rollers 135, 136 and 137, 138, respectively, which are shown only diagrammatically in Fig. 1. 'As shown in Fig. 2, each. pair consists of a continuous lower roll 136 and 138, respectively, and a plurality of top rollers 135 and 137, respectively, fastened on shafts 135 and 137, respectively. These shafts as well as the shafts of the lower rolls 136 and 138, are journaled in suitable bearings of the machine frame. Onto the shafts of the lower rolls are keyed pinions 124 and 125 meshing with a common gear 123. As Fig. 1 diagrammatically shows, gear 123 is driven through intermediate gears 122 and 121 by a gear 120 which is keyed to the main driving shaft of the machine. This shaft is journaled in suitable bearings of the machine frame and is in turn driven by suitable means, as by a pulley 55 of the well-known type.

The web W arriving at the punching machine 1 has already been divided into a plurality of strips running side by side, by any suitable cutting appliance of the well-known type and therefore'n'ot shown. As soon as the web W comprising these juxtaposed longitudinal strips, has by the feeding rolls and rollers 135, 136 and 137, 138' been conveyed with its forward or leading end over a plurality of juxtaposed conveyor belts 2 so as to extend beyond the punch 1 by the de-'- sired length corresponding to that of the blanks, the said punch 1 will, by means of the punching machine 1, cut from this leading end of the web W a plurality of blanks the number of which is equal to that of the longitudinal strips and which now rest on the said conveyor belts 2 which will feed them to the pile containers or boxes.

The belts 2 pass around pulleys 2 and 2 secured to the shafts 2 and 2*, respectively, which in turn are journaled in suitable bearings of the machine frame. The movement of the belts 2 is accomplished by a rope pulley 132 keyed to shaft 2 being driven through a rope 131 by the rope pulley '130 keyed to the shaft of roll 136.

According to the number of blanks cut out side by side, the pile boxes arev divided into a correfilled are shown.

sponding number of compartments by partitions 4, 5, 6 and 7. Above the particularpile box 3 occupying. its operative position (see Fig. 1) is shown an empty pile box 11 in its condition of preparedness, while below box 3 boxes 12 already According to, Fig. 2, the severalboxes are provided at their ends with ledges 15, 16 which rest on supporting ledges 17, 18; These supporting ledges 17, 13 are fastened to a pair of endless sprocket chains 19, 20 passing over' pairs of sprocket wheels 21, 22, 23, 24. The lower pairs of sprocket wheels '22, 24 are fastened to driving shafts 25, 26 in turn driven by helical wheels 27, 28. With these helical wheels other helical wheels 29, 30 fastened toa common shaft 31, are in mesh. According to the number of the various pile boxes, the supporting ledges 17, 18,

- respectively, are suitably spaced on the pairs of sprocket chains 19, 20. Shaft 31 carries a sleeve 32 provided with a flange 33 having a spiral camlike periphery which ends in a tooth or oflset 34. To the flange 33 is connected a ratchet wheel 35 which has a suitable number of teeth, for instance 150 in the present embodiment. The

shaft 31 further carries a ratchet-wheel'36 provided with three teeth 60. 81, 62 and rotatable on the said shaft 31. to which ratchet wheel a springcasing37isrigidlyconnected. Inthis casing, a powerful spiral spring 38 is housed the two ends of which are fastened to the buttons 39 and 40, respectively. The inside button 40 is fastened to the hub 41- of a disc 42 whichcojoperates as a friction disc with a ratchet wheel n is in operative engagement with a suitable grooved cam57iixedtotheshaft55. Arockingarm58 attached to the said link 52 together with lever 51 is intended for producing a parallelogram movement. A pawl slidably mounted by means ofapin66inalongituldinalslot67of'anarm 68isadaptedtobearagainstoneofthethree ratchetteeth 60,61 or 62 ofthedisc 36. Bigidly fastened tothe said pawl '65 is a rod 70 passing through a suitable bore of arm 68 andtat its other end provided with a thread 71. A helical spring 72 wound around that rod 70 and which bears with one end against the arm 68 and with its other end against a nut 73 screwed on the said thread 71, tends to pull the pawl 65. In-three recesses 75, 76 and 77 of ratchet wheel 36, slides 81, '82 and 33 are radially le on bolts 78, 79 and 80. These slidescarry the teeth 85, 66, 87 acting as catches and adapted to engage successively with the tooth 34 of the disc 33. The ratchet wheel 35 further carries a raiser lug 90 which is adapted to co-operate with a slanting stop 91 fastened to'thesaid arm 68 for the pawl 65. Ann 68 is pivotally mounted onagudgeonpin'pilandkeptintheposition shown by means of a; suitable spring, not shown. Asshowninl 'igs.2and4,withlink5liscou- .pled'by bolt 95 alink96allowedtoswlngfreely -ontheshaft44andcarryingapawl97,seealso Fig. 1, adapted to engage with the ratchet wheel tends to push the latches outwards into their The free ends of the saidlocking position. latches 100, 101 are provided with angular recesses 107, 108 which in their locking position engage with the supporting ledges 17, 18 of the conveyor chains 19 and 20. The supporting ledges 17, 18 are provided with recesses 17 and 18 to be engaged by the free ends of latches 100, 101. In the latching position the ledges 15 and 16 of. boxes 3 cover the supporting ledges 17 and 18, and the notchedfree ends of the latches 100 and 101 engage sideways with the vertical edges of their notches 107 and 108 the recesses 17' and 18 of the ledges 17 and 18. The horizontal edges of notches 107 and 108 engage the under sides of the supporting ledges 17 and 18. When the handles 102, 103 are pressed towards each other, the latches 100, 101 leave their locking positions, and the filled containers are readily detached. Likewise the empty containers are easy to place on the supporting ledges 17, 18, and locking is accomplished easily and quickly by the handles 102, 103 being released.

The device operates as follows:--

With every punching stroke of the punchin machine 1 as accomplished once per revolution by the driving shaft 55 in the manner above described, the web W consisting of paper, cardboard or another material is divided into the desired number of blanks which are with the subsequent feed step brought by the conveyor belts 2 intotheopposite pilebox 3. It maybe supposedthat thepileboxistoreceivethelastseriesofblanks, the total number of which is say 100. At each revolution of the shaft 55, the pawl 50 will be ac-.- tuated by the lever 51 through the link 52 so that it advances the ratchet wheel 35 which has, as above mentioned, teeth, by one tooth at a time. This advance is transmitted by the shaft 31 and the wheels 29, 27 and 30, 28 to the sprocket chain conveyor 19, 20 so that the particular pile container being in its receiving condition is lowered by a slight amount which approximately corresponds to the thickness of a blank. When new the hundredth blank is fed to this pile container, 1. e., after the rotation of ratchet wheel 35 by 150 teeth, the raiser lug 90, whichhasbythistimestruckthestop91, raises the latter so as to withdraw the pawl 65 from thetooth60ofthewheel36. Thespiralspring 38 so being released, the wheel 36 is at the same time imparted a rapid angular displacement and stopped when, by the revolution accom-.

-damped, the pawl 65 has, immediately upon having been disengaged from tooth 60,'been' pulled back by spring 72 within theelongitudinal slot 67 so that, when the pawl '65 strikes the tooth 61,itisyieldingiydisplaeedoverthewholelength and with the same angular speed as the of the slot 67 against the action of spring 72. At

the time the pawl 65 was disengaged, the catch.

was brought into engagement with the tooth 34 of the disc 33 so that hereby this disc and the ratchet wheel 35 rigidly connected with the same are displaced through the same angle 120 wheel 36, i. e., since the ratchet wheel 35 has 150 teeth, it has been rotated by an additional 50 teeth. This angular displacement is transmitted through shaft 31 to the driving wheels 27,28 of the sprocket chain conveyors 19, 20 so that now the pile box 3 filled with 100 blanks is imparted a quick advance movement which corresponds to the space existing between the top of the pile formed and the bottom of the subsequent pile box 11. Since, as above stated, during the rapid stepping the ratchet wheel 35 is displaced by 50 teeth, it must now be stepped by means of lever 51 and pawl 50 by 100 teeth until the lug engages stop 91 so as to release pawl 65. When the pawl 65 engages the next tooth 62 of wheel 36, it will again perform its latching function.

By the spiral spring gear having been released, the spring 38 was also released so that it'must be wound up again. This is done with each advance stroke of lever 51 the movement of which is transmitted through bolt and lever 96 to the pawl 9'? which turns the ratchet wheel 43 by one tooth at a time. By the friction disc 42 this movement is transmitted to the button 40 so that the spring 38 is wound up again from the inside. In case the said spring has arrived at its necessary tension prior to the hundred teeth having been passed, the friction action of the disc 42 intervenes inasmuch as the spring tension counteracts the advance of the wheel 43 so that disc 42 is subject to-friction only but not to an angular displacement.

According to the number of blanks to be counted and piled, the number of teeth of the ratchet wheel 35 and also of the wheel 36 and the other control mechanisms must be proportioned correspondingly so that when e. g. blanks are to be counted and piled per container, the ratchet wheel 35 should have 200 teeth, and the wheel 36 four teeth.

It is obvious that various changes may be made in the device shown and described as an embodiment of the present invention, without departing to make said last mentioned means operative after a container has received a predetermined number of blanks, and means adapted to make said feeding means inoperative after the bottom of the successive empty container has arrived at the level of the feeding path of the blanks, said feeding means being adapted to accelerate the advance of the containers so that the said successive empty container has occupied substantially its receiving position at the next feed of blanks.

2. In a piling and counting device of the type specified, in combination, a plurality of pile containers for piling up blanks, means for conveying the blanks to the containers, feeding means adapted to advance the containers successively by the thickness of a blank and comprising a driving shaft and a ratchet wheel secured to said shaft, a mechanism adapted to accelerate temporarily the advance of the containers and comprising a locking disc provided with spaced toothlike lugs at its periphery and rotatably mounted on said driving shaft, means adapted to normally lock said disc, means comprising a spring adapted to turn said disc, means adapted to couple the locking disc with the said ratchet wheel, and means adapted to make the said locking means inoperative and the said coupling means operative after a container has received a predetermined number of blanks.

3. A piling and counting device as specified in claim 2, in which the locking means comprise a pawl adapted to engage successively with the tooth-like lugs on the locking disc, said pawl being displaceable and yieldingly guided in a lever arm, said means adapted to make said locking means inoperative lifting said arm with said pawl out of engagement with the respective lug after a pile container has received a predetermined number of blanks.

4. A pilingand counting device as specified in claim 2, in which means are provided to wind up the spring of the accelerating feed mechanism during the normal advance of the pile containers. 5. A piling and counting device as specified in claim 2, in which the coupling means consist of a disc provided with a spirally ascending circumferential cam terminating in an offset and secured to the driving shaft coaxially with the ratchet wheel, and of a plurality of catches mounted for radial displacement in the locking disc under the action of springs tending to displace the ,said catches towards the centre of the discin engagement with the circumference of the said spirally ascending cam.

6. A piling and counting device as specified in claim2, in which means are provided to wind up the spring of the accelerating feed mechanism during the normal advance of the pile contain-' ers, said means comprising an auxiliary ratchet wheel, means adapted to continuously rotate this wheel, a friction disc rotatably mounted coaxially with the said ratchet wheel and in frictional contact with the same, the spring consisting of a spiral springmounted coaxially with the said'friction disc and the said auxiliary ratchet wheel, one end of the-spiral spring being connected to the said friction disc and the other end of the spring being in operative connection with the locking disc of the accelerating feed mechanism.

7. A piling and counting device of the type specified, having a plurality of pile containers for piling up blanks, means for conveying the blanks to the containers, and feed means for advancing the containers successively, in which the feed means for the containers comprise two conveying chains having supporting ledges to receive and carry the pile containers, and in which each container is provided with two latch bars longitudinally displaceable towards each other,

and a pressure spring is lodged between the said two latch bars and tends to push the. latch bars with their free ends into locking engagement with the said supporting ledges of the conveyor chains.

KARL FIILMANN. 

